Very strange charging behaviour

[Ziz]

Hello,

I decided to reuse my pandora after a long period of not using it at all and I continue with a problem, why I stopped using it at all 8 months ago. So this is my problem:
It is really a pain in the ass to charge my pandora. If I use the AC adapter it works only very rarely and only in specific positions, so it feels a bit like the jack has a dry solder point. However I cannot reproduce the right position for being able to charge it. I even sent my pandora in 1 or 2 years ago to get this fixed. But this didn't help very long.
USB charging is not working at all (anymore). In the beginning when I thought my AC jack is broken, it worked well, but after some time it just stopped working reliable, e.g. stopped charging after 10% or maybe 20%. However if I put my USB cable into the USB-jack is always resume from "standby mode", so it notices to power. However for some unknown reason, it doesn't charge. And even if it would work for some minutes, as my pandora wakes up while usb charging, I would loose too much battery power if the usb charging stops without standby mode.

Do you have any idea, what I can do about this except opening it and checking for dry solder points or sending it in again? Elw3 in the irc-channel seems to have the same problem. Could it be a software problem, that the charging power is not noticed for some reason?

Or is there a place after usb- and AC-jack, where a connection / solder point could be broken, which explains this coincidence?

Thanks and regards,
Ziz

 

[TrashyMG]

If I use the AC adapter it works only very rarely and only in specific positions, so it feels a bit like the jack has a dry solder point. However I cannot reproduce the right position for being able to charge it.

I've seen this on my 1Ghz unit, I need to rotate it at a specific angle. What is odd is I can plug a different charger in and it works 100% of the time. I almost suspect it may be the metal brush inside the jack that touches the ground of the plug and that it may be just barely touching. It may explain why some other chargers work and why it works at specific angles on some plugs.

 

[Ziz]

I didn't test another charge, this is an idea, too. I should have an universal charger somewhere™ at home.

 

[levi]

My barrel charger doesn't feel at all loose and usually charges my unit reliably to 100%, but I have had some situations where I try to put my Pandora on charge, and the red light won't come on until I also plug in power to the USB mini port (which is a pain, as my PSP charge and data cable has a weird mini USB plug on it that only works if I hang it out of the socket at a few mil). 95% percent of the time plus, it's fine with the barrel jack, but just occasionally it won't start from that.

 

[FBnil]

I have a broken cable, so I too, need to charge the AC from a specific position. However, I know the fracture is in the cable (as at least 1 other person has in this forum). Do you have a multitester? Try to replace the cable (will look ugly, but at least it charges again)

 

[rygD]

I didn't test another charge, this is an idea, too.

Always a good idea when troubleshooting power issues.

 

[rSl]

my ghz-rebirth ac-charges fine too using the original charger which came with an adapter for the smaller pandora ac-jack.
no connection problems here. i usually
plug in first the small adapter
then insert the charger-plug into the adapter, this gives me more control over doing things without much force,
finally i switch the power via an external powerswitch connected on the powercord, as i dislike to hotplug barrel-plugs, plus i have control over the switch-on time manually.
this worked nice for me so far.

i too had charging problems via usb connected to an pc as powersource, only charging for a short period and then stopping.
i think it had to do with the kernel requesting too much current via usb, so some usb-hosts stopped delivering power after a while to protect themself (500ma max).
notaz just released a new supersaxxon 1.76 with a fix in the kernel for this, i haven't tested usb-charging jet, but maybe this helps you here.

 

[Ziz]

i too had charging problems via usb connected to an pc as powersource, only charging for a short period and then stopping.
i think it had to do with the kernel requesting too much current via usb, so some usb-hosts stopped delivering power after a while to protect themself (500ma max).
notaz just released a new supersaxxon 1.76 with a fix in the kernel for this, i haven't tested usb-charging jet, but maybe this helps you here.

I read about this yesterday and also updated my system, but did not test it. I do now and it really works much better now!
It is not stable, it does not to work in every position every time, but it at least it works! Tbh USB is much more useful for me anyway. If I am on tour, I have a solar panel and a big power bank with me, which both have only usb ports. The pandora is the perfect outdoor device with it's long battery life and being so small, so I am glad I can use this option now again.

However now it stopped charging again. Does it stop before 100%? My pandora is at 92% now. In the past I usally charged it via usb up to 80% before it stopped automaticly. Is this an intented behaviour?

Speaking about a spare ac charger: I will test this in the evening or later this week.

Regards Ziz

 

[foxblock]

Hmm, interesting to hear this is a common behaviour, since I run into similar problems.
My original charger broke a while ago, so I was left with USB charging using a standard 230V to 5V 1A converter (which I got with my phone).
Now I can only charge the Pandora if it is turned off when I plug in the charger. If I don't touch it after that it will usually charge to 100% as intended. If I plug in the charger while the Pandora is already on or if I mess with the unit while it is charging, there is a high chance it will just stop charging or not begin charging at all. I learned to deal with this, but it is a tad annoying.
It does charge to 100%, then drops down to 85-90% and begins to charge again (to protect the battery I guess).
However I have not tried the new kernel yet.

 

[elw3]

Well its not the charger for me, i have two pandoras and my other works fine with that charger.

 

[ptitSeb]

On my CC, I also need to plug both 5V and mini-USB for the charge to proceed. My Rebirth and Gigahertz are fine and charge with either the 5V DC or the mini-USB...

 

[Eight Bit]

I have used an original sony, wall mounted, psp adapter for years, it's 2000mA and always worked flawlessly on my CC and GHz units

 

[rygD]

My CC works fine with the charger ED sent me, but I am getting worried now.

 

[FBnil]

However now it stopped charging again. Does it stop before 100%? My pandora is at 92% now. In the past I usally charged it via usb up to 80% before it stopped automaticly. Is this an intented behaviour?

It charges up to the point the battery can not receive any more current (with on mine, is beyond 100%). Then stops charging until charge goes back to 80% before charging again (this is done to extend battery life)
What is the data in sysinfo ?
I mean this display, where you have the "% of full" and then the mAh
http://repo.openpandora.org/files/pnd/sysinfo.wb/screenshot-battery.png

 

[Ziz]

@FBnil: It is at 80% of design and 90% of full right now.
However with retrying many times I got usb the charge and also to charge up to 100% and the led stayed red. I will check again with sysinfo, what happens if I reach 100%

 

[FBnil]

That 'overcharge' is a feature. E.D. actually added a bit more capacity (mAh) into the battery than advertised.

 

[Ziz]

That 'overcharge' is a feature. E.D. actually added a bit more capacity (mAh) into the battery than advertised.

Cheeky!

I will see, what sysinfo tells me, when I leave work in 40 minutes.

 

[Ziz]

Little appendix: As my charging behaviour went worse and worse and it was impossible for me to charge the pandora at all over AC since yesterday, I decided to take a look at the solder joints and indeed: One was broken. So I took my soldering bolt and noticed, it was broken, too. Didn't know, that could even break just by lying around... Anyway today I learned, that even a 7€ bolt from a DIY market is sufficient to repair the pandora AC soldering. It works like a charme now!

However my USB problems stay. It worked shortly after the OS update, but then the old behaviour took place again. My pandora notices the USB cable, resumes from standby, but does not load. The connections looked good to me. Well at least AC charging works now.

Regards, Ziz

 

[levi]

One question; is a soldering bolt the same thing as a soldering iron, or something else?

 

[KickAss]

my guess is he meant a soldering iron.